Heretofore, toner in the form of fine particles is used as a developer in the image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a printer. When the developer in a main assembly of the image forming apparatus is used, the toner is supplied into the image forming apparatus using a toner supply container. When the toner is used up, a new toner supply container or toner bottle with a supply of the toner is provided to replace the used-up toner supply container, which then is discarded. FIG. 5 shows a specific configuration of a related art toner bottle 420 while FIG. 6 shows a mouth portion 423 forming the outlet of the bottle 420. As shown, the bottle 420 is substantially cylindrical and provided with the mouth portion 423 at substantially the center of one end thereof. The mouth portion 423 has a smaller diameter than the cylinder constituting the bottle 420 and has a circular section. In the specific configuration, the mouth portion 423 is formed at the end of a collar 424 extending out from the cylinder 420 and is plugged by a lid 425. A lug member 426 with a body portion and a mushroom-like cap portion protrudes from the center of the lid 425 and is used as a handler for plugging or unplugging utility. A spiral guide groove 427 is formed in the inner periphery of the cylinder 420. When the bottle 420 is rotated about the longitudinal axis thereof, the spiral groove 427 guides the toner contained in the bottle 420 toward the mouth portion 423.
One disadvantage associated with the bottle 420, in particular, the lid 425, is that a user may accidentally nip the lug member 426 of the lid 425, which, when the user uses enough force, may break the bottom portion of the lid 425 so as to cause toner falling from the bottle 420.
Suggestions or modifications were made to overcome this disadvantage. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a lid 425 was provided with pin-like obstructions 426b around the lug member 426. While the obstructions 426b may prevent the easy access of a user's fingers to the lug member 426, the user may still reach the lug member 426 and accidents may still occur.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.